Lotta Hitschmanova's Radio Messages

If you're old enough to remember the 50s then you probably remember Lotta's voice on the radio. She always ended her appeals with our address: 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa. Her voice made this the best known address in Canada. We invite you to listen (again) to her voice.

"No excuse for starvation."

Quotes about Lotta

"I first met Lotta Hitschmanova [when] she came to my classroom… she radiated love and concern. When I was 25, I received…royalties from radio play of my first album. It felt like such a godsend that it seemed appropriate to share it with those less lucky…and so I became a donor."

- Bruce Cockburn, Singer-Songwriter and USC Canada spokesperson

"That voice was part of my growing up in Elmira, Ontario. I first learnt anything about the Third World from her."

- Neill McKee, Film maker

"I can remember her voice so distinctly on the CBC radio noon program that my parents listened to in very rural Saskatchewan where I grew up. As a small child I conjured up my own images of her work and was amazed how her work continued to influence me in the years that my husband and I lived and worked in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Pakistan."

- H.W., USC Canada Supporter

"[While in Ottawa for a singing engagement] I wrote Nagamma and, next morning, went into Lotta’s office and sang it for her. She cried. I cried. She phoned CBC. They didn’t cry but made an appointment for me to record it. Then Lotta used it as the theme song for the campaign."

- Vera Johnson, Singer-songwriter

"I am sure the spiritual rewards you have received from a life of selfless service to others are plentiful...It is also most appropriate that [this 1983 Rotary International Award for World Understanding] is one which gives to others the opportunity to build a better future for themselves."

- Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Former Prime Minister of Canada

"Recently, visiting the extermination camp at Auschwitz, … I suddenly paid attention to [a] suitcase….The name was that of [Lotta’s] mother, Else Hitschmann, Prag II, Sokolska 36 – [her family’s] home address…. Now when I walk the fields of the camp and see the ashes coming out of the earth, another soul has a name."

- M.M., Past USC volunteer

"When I was a school girl in the ‘40s, I walked to and from school 4 times a day. We always knew when it was time to return to school because Lotta Hitschmanova would come on the CBC every weekday before the 1 pm news to say who she was…and to support her by sending money to 56 Sparks St, Ottawa."

We’re called USC Canada because we started out way back in 1945 as the Unitarian Service Committee, founded by the energetic Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova. We’re still planting the seeds that Lotta sowed. Find out more about our founder, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova.

Newsletter

Thanks for signing up!

Become a supporter! Sign-up for Cybersprout, our monthly e-newsletter.